King of Captains
by Mike Hall
Summary: 100 years after the Reaper War, Kara King is one of the most notorious Pirates in the Galaxy. But when she's hired to find a crashed Reaper named "Harbinger" on the anarchistic human home world, Earth, she's plunged into a conflict few in the galaxy knew existed. (100 years after Mass Effect 3, Destroy Ending)


September 21st, 2260 CE  
Somewhere in The Terminus System

The Asari Cruiser Nefrane was powerless, exposed, and being patiently watched by a Frigate that had been waiting for it. She had been cruising steadily at 1500 K until a sudden system overide forced her into a complete and total stop. The ship was silent and steady sitting in space defenseless. From a distance a ship had watched the crusiers sudden stop and was monitoring all systems and awaiting an invitation.

_ "You know I really don't like this, this cruiser is a prestigious war cruiser, it fought against sovereign at the Citadel, it fought at Earth against the whole reaper army, it fought during the Second Krogan Rebellions over TUCHANKA, and now? Now it's shipping Cargo to Earth. And trust me, this baby hasn't been retired she's got a plethera of nasty toys including a damn THANIX CANNON and a CBT4. That Barrier tech is more expensive than our whole ship. Thing is, these guys- or girls, rather, should know how high-profile their flying. Which means this Cargo is so important their just flaunting how bad they are. Which doesn't go well for us if your man didn't shut he ships engines down right." _The Pilot, Burns, said matter-of-factly.

_ "Trust me Burns, he did." _The Captain responded. Burns sighed and shook his head.

_ "Whatever you say ma'am." _Burns said aloud. He never quite got use to the fact he was flying for an Asari Pirate Captain, but it didn't bother him none either. The Captain opened up a channel with the Shuttle Pilot, Barrows.

_ "Barrows, you got the Cocroach's all ready?" _The Captain asked, refering to the boarding vessel.

_ "Yeah, Jane and Jessie are good to go, and the boys are here ready to go locked and loaded. Just waiting for the word." _Barrows responded. Regal Barrows was a ex-N5 Alliance Soldier and knew how to get a boarding party ready for a raid, and fly a shuttle like a mad man.

_ "As soon as the call comes Barrows I'll-" _As the captain said it a message was sent from the Nefrane. The Captain opened up the message and smiled, reasured all had gone to plan and the ship was ready to be boarded. The Captain opened up the Comms and played the message in the cockpit. It was a old Human Pirate song, from hundreds of years ago the captain as quite fond of.

_"Now we are ready to head for the Horn,_

_Way, ay, roll an' go!_

_Our boots an' our clothes boys are all in the pawn,_

_Timme rollickin' randy dandy O!_

_Heave a pawl, oh, heave away,_

_Way, ay, roll an' go!_

_The anchor's on board an' the cable's all stored,_

_Timme rollickin' randy dandy O!"_

This meant that her man had successfully taken out the ships engines and had control over the ships basic functions. Which meant it was time to board the ship and grab the Cargo they needed. King swaggered down from the bridge to the cargo hanger where her whole crew was waiting to board the ships prepared for raiding the Cruiser. They were soldiers from all over the Galaxy: Humans and Krogans on the raiding parties and Quarians and Asari in charge of the engines. As much of a mix of of different species it was, they all worked together like family...despite the occassional brawl.

_"You tell em' the plan?" _Kara asked Barrows.

_ "Yeah, their ready to kick some UCF ass." _Barrows said with a smirk, refering to the United Council Forces banner they flew under, especially hated by all rouges and rebels galaxy wide. King opened her locker and slipped on metal "Barrier Bands" she'd got as a gift from her Mentor, a Human Pirate who only called herself "Captain Jack". Jack took Kara in when she was very young, after she was Orphaned during the Reaper attack on Thessia.

They were able to create a powerful barrier around the body without the need of any kind of armor. Though Kara did wear armor plates on her chest and back she always prefered mobility to protection. Rather than a suit of armor she wore a light black duster, a collared white tank top, black pants and combat boots. Her weapons and ammo were on the cocroaches her crew were desperatly waiting to board. King walked up to the cocroach looking back at her crew and laughing:

_"Well? You guys coming along or am I gonna take the loot myself?"_ King asked the crew. The crew responded:

_ "Not a chance King Captain!"_

*****************************

The Cocroaches steadily approached the dormant cruiser, from within the transport nothing could be seen of the Transport but the whole boarding party knew it was tough. If they wanted to get out alive they'd have to be fast and loud, nothing in the way left standing. The Captain, Kara King, had checked her Rifle 6 times on their way to the ship, it was anear Ancient M7 Avenger Assault Rifle she had gotten off of a Human Assassin coming after her bounty. Despite it's age it was reliable, it never ran out of ammunition but it had a heating problem which made it near impossible to use in combat unless you knew what you were doing, which Kara did. She'd been in more raids then she could count and that M7 had carried her through each one still standing. It gave her a respect for Human weaponry, never top-of-the-line but always damn effective.

Being an Asari she didn't gain the respect of a band of Anarchistic, Alcholic and Bloodthirsty pirates easily, but after showing time and time again she knew how to lead a raid most respected her more than the Captains she served under. When she was 50 full on war broke out between the Krogan and the newly Turian dominated Council over the Krogans rapid illegal expansion into neighboring planets. Kara King's Captain, a woman named "Captain Jack" quit her position as captain saying she was "Sick of every last one of those ignorant fuckers." Kara took over for her Captain, and took advantage of this dispute, selling weapons from one side to the other along with information nearly more reliable than the Shadow Broker. But she wasn't just crafty, she was also one of the most talanted, and dangerous Captains in the Galaxy.

Her new ship, the Black Skull was a fearsome Frigate, spelling out despair for any who hear it's songs or it's guns. The name was purposfully theatrical, much likethe former captain Jack herself who's high profile attitude left an intimidating impression on her enemies. The crew were loyal and merciless, in it with King to the end knowing that no other Pirate in the Galaxy could offer a better paycheck.

But after 10 years of War the Krogans lost, retreating from the now inhabitable planet of Tuchanka and to Anhur in the Eagle Nebula planning to one day return. For Kara, this meant she had to work twice as hard for her money, begainning a ruthless campaign against the newly formed United Council Forces, a imperialistic army formed by the Council to keep Galactic peace through brute force. Her skill and prowess was noted by the capatins she defeated earning her the name "King of Captains", a nod to her name Kara King. But this raid was unusual, she was being paid twice as much for half the normal cargo but still, a paycheck was a paycheck.

The Asari Cruiser, The "Nefrane", was loaded to the brim with highly trained Asari Sailors with itchy trigger fingers, most of hom had plenty oftime and patience to get ready for Kings attack. Her edge though, was they thought the interferance on their ship was coming from the Black Skull, in actuality King had a close friend slip aboard the Cruiser unnoticed and sabatoge the systems. As of the moment he was locked in the mainframe with full control over the ship but no way out without bullet between the eyes, which is where Kings raiders came in.

_"Everyone buckle up, they're gonna throw everything they've got at us like their lives depend on once we get in that hanger!" _Barrows shouted to the crew. The Cocroaches began to rattle as they entered the hanger of the cruiser to a barrage of gunfire. The shuttles launched canisters full of smoke to block the enemies line ofn view and made a sharp 90 degree turn, allowing the Gunners on each side of the cocroaches to pop out with their heavy machine guns pinning down the crew at the far end of the hanger.

The crew was taking cover behind a half circle of waist high barriers set up before they got onto the ship. It was a great defensive position and it was stocked with ammunition but King's man was in the Mainframe it wouldn't be a problem for long. Kara opened up a comm channel with her raiders:

"Everyone move out and get to cover! Watch out for those Sailors, they don't often miss twice!" The crew rushed out of the shuttles sprinting behind large shipping crates and terminals throughout the hanger. King rushed behind a waist high terminal...used to regulate the Hangers pressurization. She opened up her Omni-Tool, and hacked into the console gaining contol of the hanger. Kara opened up a comm channel with her men:

"Everyone get behind something nailed down and turn on your mag system...I'm venting the Hanger!" The crew responded with an assortmant of charming remarks whilst running around the hanger like chicken with their heads cut off slamming on the ground and magnetically locking themselves to it. Kara waiting until everyone was ready and activatied the venting system locking herself to the floor.

The Asari realized immediatly what was wrong when the alarms started going off and the Mass Effect fields at he end of the hanger started weakening. They all sprinted to the exit but Kara had already locked everyone in the Hanger. Everything in the hanger began suddenly being ripped out, from large shipping crates to the Asari crew at the end of the Hanger. Kara's raiders screamed over the comm with a mix of thrill and pure terror. Once the last Sailor flew from the Hanger Kara re-pressurized the Hanger allowing her Crew to stand up.

_"Are you insane?!" _Lars, their engineer who had previously never left the Black Skull screamed at Kara.

_ "You think that's insane? She liked them, just wait and see what she does to people she DOESN'T like." _The Krogan, Vax, laughed menacingly. 


End file.
